Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Wednesday’s child: Knox infants

I came upon them from behind: five small, mossy gravestones standing shoulder to shoulder. I knew immediately what I would see when I walked to the front.

The gravestones are for five children, all from the same family. Not just children, infants.

None have first names.

INFANT,
Son of
J. & E. KNOX
DIED
Feb. [6?], 1847.

INFANT,
Son of
J. & E. KNOX
DIED
Oct. 4, 1850.

INFANT,
Dau. of
J. & E. KNOX
Died
Jan. 16, 1855.

INFANT,
Son of
J. & E. KNOX
[Oct. 16, 1863]

INFANT,
Son of
J. & E. KNOX
[Mar. 1865]

The dates for the two unreadable markers are from Delaware County Burials published online by Delaware County Genealogical and Historical Societies.

Delaware County Burials also lists John Knox as the father of the five infants. John and Esther Knox can be found in census records for township throughout the period. At least one child, Alonzo, who was age 8 in 1860, lived a long life.

4 comments:

I don't often find so many infants from one family altogether like this--but it's sad to think that it probably wasn't all that unusual for a family to lose young ones. (A friend of mine at work today was telling me about a cemetery he visited. He found NINE young children from one family buried side-by-side.)